Heart-Shaped Soft Pretzels

Greetings!  Welcome to February, I can't believe it is here already.  My first recipe of this month are these awesome soft pretzels.  I got this recipe from Alton Brown http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html

I decided that in honour of February I would try making some heart-shaped pretzels.  This recipe might look a little intimidating, but it is actually really, really easy.  These pretzels are great on their own but sometimes I like to make some bigger ones and use them as hamburger buns, yum!


Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water (115 degrees F)
1 TB White Sugar
2 tsp Salt
1 TB Active Dry Yeast (Or one package)
4 1/2 Cups Flour (You can use a combination of white and whole wheat, I used white)
2 oz Unsalted Butter, melted
Oil for pan
10 Cups Water (for boiling)
2/3 Cup Baking Soda (to add to boiling water)
1 Large Egg Yolk beaten with 1 TB Water
Coarse Salt


Directions:

1.  Combine the water, sugar and salt in your stand-mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes or until it foams.

After 5 minutes.

2. Add the flour and melted butter and mix using the dough hook attachment.  Mix on low until all ingredients are combined, switch to medium speed and mix for 5 minutes.

3.  Move the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with saran wrap and let it rise for about an hour.

After an hour!

4.  Once the dough is almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Prepare two baking sheets by covering them with greased parchment paper.  I brushed some olive oil onto mine.

5.  Bring the 10 cups of water to a boil and add the baking soda.  Make sure you use a big enough pot!

6.  Turn the dough onto a greased work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces.  The pretzel I made into a heart shape was 1/16 instead of 1/8 because I thought it would look cuter.  I have done this recipe making 8 large pretzels, and 16 half-size ones.  The large ones are great to use as hamburger buns, and the small ones are awesome for bringing to a party.

7.  Create a tube shape with the dough by rolling your hands back and forth from the middle, outward.  To create the pretzel shape, do the same thing you would to make the heart, but cross the ends over each other and pinch onto the bottom of the pretzel.

8.  Place each pretzel into the boiling water (one at a time is easiest) for no longer than 30 seconds.  Place the boiled pretzels onto the baking sheets.  I used a metal, slotted spoon for this part.

The pretzels will increase in size after being boiled.

9.  Mix the egg yolk with the tablespoon of water.  Brush this mixture on top of each boiled pretzel.  This helps the pretzel get the golden colour on top.  Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt.  I used some pink Himalayan sea salt I got from World Spice when I was in Seattle.

10.  Bake for 12 to 14 minutes.  Watch them carefully as they bake because they can get too brown on top really quickly!

 Enjoy!!

Coconut Scones

Coconut Scones

 

 

I have been going crazy for scones lately!  I think in the past two weeks I've made three different kinds.  I will definitely be posting recipes for the other two.  I always find myself becoming more inspired to bake as it begins to feel more like Fall!  I adapted this recipe because I wanted to experiment with coconut flour.  I have never baked with it before and I was pleasantly surprised because this scone had a very light, fluffy texture.

When working with coconut flour, because it is so absorbent, you have to add extra liquid in order to compensate.  I had read that you are supposed to add 6 eggs for each cup of coconut flour, and I was like... that's not going to happen!  I added apple sauce and oil instead of the other 5 eggs because these can both act as egg replacements.  It worked quite well.  Let me know if you give these a try!  I will be trying this recipe again in the future with just coconut flour in order to test it out as a gluten-free recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup White Flour
2/3 cup Coconut Flour
2 TB Shredded Coconut
3.5 TB Brown Sugar (unpacked)
.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg
6 TB Margarine
3/4 cup Apple Sauce
3 TB Orange Juice
1 Large Egg
2 TB Oil (I used Canola)
1 tsp Coconut Extract (optional, you could also use orange extract if        if you want to bring out the flavour of the orange juice)
4 TB Toasted Coconut (optional)

Directions:

1.  Turn your oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Combine flours, shredded coconut, brown sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.  Add the margarine to the flour mixture and combine using a fork or pastry blender if available.  Mix until the margarine is pea sized. 

3.  In a separate bowl combine the egg, oil, apple sauce, coconut extract and orange juice.

4.  Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and fold using a wooden spoon until just combined.  If mixed too much the scones will not be as light and fluffy.

5.   Move dough/batter onto a floured cutting board and form into a rectangle approximately 1 inch in height.  Cut the rectangle in quarters, and then cut each quarter diagonally.  You should have 8 scones when finished.  Move scones onto a baking sheet, I like to use greased parchment paper as it guarantees they will not stick or become too brown on the bottom.  Add toasted coconut to the tops of the scones if desired.

6.  Bake for 14 to 16 minutes.

7.  Enjoy!

Toasted Coconut:

1.  If you have shredded coconut you can cook this on medium heat in a skillet until brown.  Be careful, once this gets cooking it can toast very quickly!